by Bryce Evans
The message read: Shift now, and follow extraction number one. The code word was at the bottom right—Payroll. Only a few people knew what he was, and Lt. Jones was one of them. It had to be bad for the lieutenant to put that in a message. If the enemy intercepted the message, they wouldn’t understand it, but he did. And his team understood they would have to go on without them.
“What the hell is going on?” Reece asked Knox. Both were squatted down behind the lush trees in the rainforest of the Amazon.
“I don’t know, but you’re in charge now, Reece. Make sure the team gets back safely. Don’t worry about me. Just complete the mission, and get home safe.” Reece Mason was a bear shifter, and they were best friends. Reece had been a good friend to him and his brother since they were young. They’d all joined the military together, but Reece followed him to the Seals. He was a good solider, and Knox had no doubt that he could handle this mission without him.
“I don’t like this at all. Command has never compromised a mission by sending this type of message,” Reece said.
“I know that, but it has the code word, and I need to leave now. Just do this.” Knox shifted without looking back, leaving his clothes and equipment behind. The others would carry all of his belongings out. He knew Reece would make sure of it. He knew Reece was upset about this, as he should be, but they didn’t always get to know the reasons behind the orders they followed. Both of them were equally qualified, but Reece was happy being his second. Until today—now Reece was in charge and Knox had no doubt that Reece would complete the mission.
Ransom and Knox both shifted into their animal forms. His panther was ready to get out as Ransom shifted into his jaguar, running beside him as they traveled through the forest. The area they were running through would have been every shifter’s paradise. Too bad it was filled with drug lords. They’d taken a village hostage and were forcing them to make cocaine. Even the children were forced to work in the fields. This mission had been planned for a couple of months. Bodies were piling up, and that was something the United States government couldn’t stand by and allow to happen. They made them work until they dropped, then worked them again a few hours later. Something had to be done, and he was glad at least the team would get to finish the mission.
The lush landscape was perfect for his kind. Trees were everywhere for jumping and climbing, and he would never have to worry about something to eat. The land provided the food for them. Wild pigs ran free through the jungle, and fish were plentiful in the ponds.
There were waterfalls everywhere he turned. He loved everything about it here. The smell of the jungle never changed. It always refreshed itself after every rain, washing away the bad as the jungle replenished itself.
The reason his team was so successful was their ability to shift and never be seen. Climbing trees was one of his specialties, and tracking his prey was another. They’d already taken out half of the drug lords’ men, and they didn’t even know it. Yet.
Knox was eager to kill them all for the inhuman things they were doing to these people. That was their mission: to free the hostages and kill the drug lords, and his conscience was fine with those orders. They’d tried to rehabilitate some of the soldiers before, but had no luck. Now they eliminated them and saved the civilians.
His team was loyal and made up completely of shifters. They had bears, wolves, jaguars, tigers, and panthers like him. They mostly all got along, and when they didn’t they were allowed to settle it the old-fashioned way—shift and go at it. Never to the death, but it allowed them to let off a lot of steam. That’s why it worked out.
After running for hours, they both shifted back and paused to drink from one the many running waterfalls. “Do you know why they sent for me, Ransom?” Knox asked, looking over at him, hoping the jaguar had overheard something.
Ransom shook his head, but he looked away without making eye contact. “What aren’t you telling me? We go way back. Give me something, Ransom.”
Bowing his head, he answered, “Your brother is dead.”
“What?” Thorn couldn’t be dead. “You’re mistaken, my brother is safe in Alpha City. He’s not in this anymore.”
“I wish I was. Something strange is going on in Alpha City, according to the lieutenant. He’s sending you and me back there to find out what, and for your brother’s funeral.”
Knox shook his head in denial. How could his brother, his twin, be dead? He’d felt that something was wrong lately, but he thought it was the mission. He’d just spoken with Thorn a week ago; he’d seemed happy and had said something about a woman he’d met.
His hand graced over his heart as he thought of Thorn. His twin was dead. Thorn had been all he had left, and now he was gone.
“I’m sorry, Knox. I liked your brother a lot. He was a good man. I don’t know anything else, or I’d tell you.”
Knox felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest. They’d lost their parents when they were children, and now he’d lost his best friend: his brother.
“I wish you would let me take your pain away. I can feel it from here,” Ransom said. Knox knew he would if he could.
“I appreciate it, but I have to find out what happened. The pain is all I have of him right now.” Knox looked out into the jungle. “We need to get back. I need answers.”
Ransom shifted and waited by the falls until he was ready. Knox made a vow that he would find out how this happened and who did it, and make sure the person paid for it. He shifted and ran toward the landing zone where the helicopter would pick them up.
Judd cooked steaks for dinner. He liked his rare, and he figured Maggie would too since she needed blood as well as food. He placed everything on the table and then went in search of his mate. Inhaling deeply, he found her scent everywhere in the living room. He could tell she’d touched his books, and the pictures he had scattered around. He loved the fact that her scent was now embedded in the room. If he had his way, he’d be able to scent her everywhere in his home. This would soon be her home too. That was the plan.
He searched through every room, but he couldn’t find her until he heard the front porch swing moving. He walked outside to find her staring off into space as she swung back and forth. She didn’t even hear him as he came up beside her and sat down. The night air was cool, but she showed no sign of being cold; her face was expressionless.
“Dinner is ready.” Judd watched to see if that got any reaction from her. She blinked a couple of times and then glanced over at him.
“Judd, I think I need to leave.” Maggie frowned.
“Leave? You can’t go back to your house. It’s not safe.”
“I mean leave town.” She turned toward him in the swing. “Don’t you get it? I want you so much, and every time we kiss or touch, all I want to do is sink my teeth into you. And I can’t do that. I won’t do that to you.”
Judd reached over and pulled her into his lap. Pushing her hair away from her neck, he said, “I’ll find a way. I promise you I’ll find a way. We just have to be careful.”
“How? I can smell your blood now, and it calls to me. I want to taste you, and I’m so scared that if I do then I won’t be able to control it. Sex is very physical, and I want to bite you everywhere.” Maggie laid her head on his shoulder.
He didn’t know why, but hearing her say that she wanted to bite him all over got him hot. He was hard as a rock as she told him what she wanted to do. Hell, he wanted to do the same to her, and then fuck her until they both couldn’t move. The woman would have bite marks all over her by the time he was finished.
“Just give me some time to research this and talk to some people,” Judd asked as Maggie tried to pull away. “Please, Maggie, just tell me you’ll at least try. I never took you for a quitter.” Anger was an emotion he could work with; resignation wasn’t.
Maggie got angry. She got up and pointed her finger at him. “I’m not a quitter. I’ve never quit anything in my whole life, and I won’t quit on you, Judd.”
> Judd stood up beside her and turned her toward the kitchen. “Good. Now, let’s go do normal stuff: eat a good dinner and then snuggle up and watch a movie.”
Chapter Six
“Morris hasn’t come back yet,” Claudia said as she barged into Jamal’s bedroom. He was lying on his bed, completely naked, as a woman massaged his back.
“Who the hell is that?” Claudia demanded. Jamal didn’t open his eyes. It enraged her when he acted so nonchalant, basically ignoring her. He was supposed to be with her and only her. They had a deal.
“Francesca,” Jamal sighed, without a care in the world.
“Well, Francesca, if you want to keep those hands of yours I think you need to leave.” When the woman stayed put and completely ignored her, Claudia grabbed her by her hair and pulled her off the bed. Screaming, Francesca tried to kick Claudia as the witch dragged her to the door. Claudia used a little bit of her magic to open the door, and flung her out. As she let go, a bit of Francesca’s hair came out.
Claudia smiled down at the woman and slowly opened her hand, dropping the woman’s hair on the floor. Then she slammed the door in Francesca’s face as the woman started to get up.
Claudia was burning with rage as she turned around. Jamal was still lying flat on the bed with his eyes closed. “I thought we had an agreement.” Her hands tightened into fists as she watched the dragon turn his head toward her and smile.
“What agreement are you referring to, my love?”
Her temper flared. She’d had enough of the egotistical dragon. Nobody was going to double-cross her. She watched as Jamal got up from the bed and stretched toward the ceiling. Claudia charged him, trying to land a punch. Before her fist met its mark, Jamal grabbed her hands and slammed her face-first into the bed.
“Now, love, you’re getting yourself all worked up about nothing. If you wanted me, all you had to do was ask. She means nothing to me. Only you.” Jamal rubbed against her as she struggled to get up.
“Tell me you want me?” Again Claudia struggled, and Jamal grabbed her hair, jerking her head up. “Tell me, love.”
She hated herself, but she wanted him. Now more than ever. She had a lot of frustration to get rid of. She still needed him for a while. “I want you,” Claudia answered, giving him the truth, but only until she had all the pieces of the Stone. Then she’d get rid of her little problem or force him to answer to her. Right now, she needed him for something else and would continue to play the part.
Dragging her up on the bed, Jamal flipped her over and jerked her shirt open. “That’s what I thought.”
“Yes, yes, yes.” Claudia smiled knowing that one day she would have it all, and that included ruling over Valceria.
Maggie smiled as she watched the love story. She couldn’t believe he actually sat through the whole movie without bitching and moaning. He did dig into all the candy jars he had scattered around the room, though. “I can’t believe you watched the whole movie.”
He lifted his shoulder in a half-shrug. “This was different. I really enjoyed this movie. It had some action, some mystery, and…” Judd wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “And a little bit of sex.”
Smiling, Maggie shook her head. “I had fun tonight.”
Judd smiled back. “I did too.” He pushed some stray hair behind her ear. “You tired?”
“To be honest, I’m very tired and ready to go to sleep.” Maggie felt her phone vibrate. She took it out of her pocket and saw that it was Judith.
“Judith?” Judd asked.
“Yeah. The woman got shot three times and just about died, but she wants to know if I’m okay. Strange…” They both laughed.
“She loves you, and she’s just worried about you. I’m worried about you. So let’s get you to the guest room and get you tucked in. I think it would do us all good if we got a good night’s sleep.”
“Guest room?” Maggie asked. She thought he would at least try and get her to sleep in his room. She liked this new Judd, but then again she never knew the old one.
“Yep. Pennson is still out, but he has his room down the hall, too, and I have one set up for guests.” Judd escorted her down the hall. She wondered, was she a guest now? Maybe he was having second thoughts, and she had her wires crossed and couldn’t read him as well as she thought.
She followed him, worried now that he was just being nice. Judd opened the door for her and she almost went into convulsions. “Wow.” The room was spectacular. It had a king-sized bed with dark purple bedding—her favorite color. The walls were a light gray, and everything matched and fit perfectly in the room. She didn’t know what to go to first. The dresser had perfume on top of it; when she inspected it closer she saw that it was her favorite kind.
“I think I have everything you’ll need to wear in the drawers and in the closet, but we can get you whatever you need if I don’t,” Judd said.
When she opened the first drawer up she knew the man had done all of this for her. Even the underwear was the brand she wore. She walked over to the closet and found clothes and shoes in her sizes. “When…” She cleared her throat. “When did you do all this? You did this for me?”
Judd smiled. “Of course it’s for you. I don’t do this for all women.”
“I don’t understand, Judd. When did you do this?”
“A month ago, I guess.”
“A month ago was when I came to town. You hadn’t even spoken to me. At all. Not a word.” Maggie really didn’t understand any of this. Why would he do this if he hated her and her kind?
“I thought about you all the time, got some people to check out what you liked and didn’t. Maybe even spied a little bit to see what your tastes were. I thought that one day we would work this out and get to know each other, as we did, and you could have your own room. Your own space. Do you like it?”
Maggie stroked her fingers down the side of Judd’s face. “I love it. And you did it all for me.”
“I would move mountains for you, and I plan on doing that so we can be together. Like I promised, I will find a way for us to be together,” Judd answered, and she could tell he was being honest.
He kissed the top of her head. “I’ll leave you so you can get ready for bed, but if you need me in the middle of the night, I’m just down the hall. Okay?”
“Okay.” She looked around the room. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Chapter Seven
Judd walked down to his office. He had to check in to see what was going on with Morris.
“Hello,” a voice said.
“Anything new?” Judd asked his Beta, Pennson.
“He just woke up, and boy is he mad, and strong as hell. I’m glad we re-enforced the walls with silver. He’s bouncing off the sides of them like a ping-pong ball. Asshole didn’t wake up with a better attitude, if that’s what you want to know.”
“Has he said anything?”
“Only that your bitch of a mate is going to die for changing him into this abomination,” Pennson repeated.
Judd sat silently listening. His temper was flaring after the threat to his mate. “He won’t have a chance to touch her before he goes to Hell.”
“That’s exactly what I told him, but the bastard seems to think they’ll rescue him. We put up double plates of silver across the front of the walls, just in case he reaches out through the bars. He looks like he’s about to gnaw his arm off for something to eat.”
“Remember what Maggie said about how strong and starved he’ll be. Don’t let anyone go near him,” Judd warned.
“Got it covered, boss,” Pennson assured him.
He hoped that Morris wasn’t right about a rescue mission. He would get with the Alphas about draining Morris of all the information he had. The longer they let him live, the worse it would be. He didn’t trust the guy, and now he was wondering if they shouldn’t have just killed him in the first place. What if this was a trap, and they wanted him to get caught?
Worried now, Judd fired up
his computer and sent out a message relaying his thoughts. Nobody was safe, that was what Morris had said. He had to keep Maggie and his pride happy and whole. There had to be something he could do to make sure that everyone he loved was free from any harm.
Judd started researching the internet for some type of weapon. Something he could use in the fight against Claudia and Jamal. What could you use against magic? The dragon’s skin was thicker than that of any other living creature; they would need some type of weapon that could cut through it.
He watched a YouTube video about hunters who were showing off a .458 rifle that could kill a rhino. He didn’t know if it would actually penetrate the dragon’s hide, but if hurt the bastard even a little then he was going to try it.
Now, they needed something to hurt Claudia. But what? It wasn’t as if there was a store on the internet with things to hurt a witch dabbling in the dark arts. Or was there? He typed in ‘witches,’ and there were hundreds of links to click on. This would take him forever. He had to find someone who could help them with this woman. Apparently, the Council of Covens wasn’t going to send any help. What the hell were they waiting for?
“Judd?”
He turned around and found Maggie standing at the door. She was beautiful as the lights from the living room beamed down on her. He smiled as he looked her over. She wore a short, sexy nightgown that looked more like a dress and fit her perfectly. He’d dream of those long legs, as the dress only covered just above her knees. Her skin was pale, but flawless and beautiful.